I don’t know about you, but we had a hard time finding a suitable place for Pilates here in Hackney, East London. Here is our story: my wife got very interested in Pilates, for the one or the other reason. I guess she got the idea from one of those “women magazines” she is reading all the time.

So we checked several fitness studios here in the area, each one of those where they said they offer Pilates classes, but no matter where we looked at, they all seemed kind of crappy.

The first fitness studio that we checked, we were immediately put off by rather unfriendly staff.

Well, “the staff”, it was only one person working a desk, and that person seemed extremely annoyed to give us any kind of information about their classes. She still tried to sell as a membership though, even though we mentioned several times to her that we were only looking for Pilates courses.

The next studio that we checked out was not much better. It was a very large, known fitness chain and at least they had several people working on the premises at the time when we got there. It turned out that their Pilates classes where, how should I call it, more like a gimmick where they have several inexperienced students as “teachers”. They also didn’t have a real interest in getting as signed on for their Pilates classes, but instead also tried to sell us their normal gym membership.

This entire ordeal basically repeated itself a few times.

This was until Jenna told us about London Fields Fitness where she is currently going to their yoga classes. She is very happy with them, but we didn’t know whether they also offered Pilates. Long story short, yes they had. And now Jenna is also going to the Pilates classes with my wife because she thinks there are even “cooler” than the yoga classes. So if you are looking for a good place for Pilates Hackney, you might want to check out London Fields too! As for myself, I haven’t been at their Pilates classes but I can attest that the studio itself is very nice, with modern equipment and very friendly staff. And according to my wife, the Pilates classes are fantastic and I have no reason to doubt her.

We now know the price that British racing is asking their bookmakers to pay for becoming an authorised betting partner for digital horseracing.

This past autumn, the policy was announced as one way to capture some of the approximate 30 million that is not being contributed to the levy. The policy immediately draw the ire of a large number of bookmakers in the United Kingdom.

Bookmakers who will route their digital horseracing business via offshore means will be required by British racing to contribute 7.5% of their gross wins to the 2016-17 levy.

Only a handful of bookmakers in United Kingdom, among them Betfair, bet365 and 32Red have put their signature under the new policy which gives preferential treatment to those participating. Those bookmakers who are not participating expect overall disadvantages including but not limited to potentially being barred from accessing racecourse press rooms and parade rings.

British horseracing groups Arena racing company, Jockey club racecourses along with several others to get away racecourses Chester, Fakenham and Newton Abbot are currently backing the initiative by the ABP. Tracks such as York and Pontefract will continue to work with sponsors who are not part of the ABP but not grant sponsorship to new bookmakers who didn’t sign the new policy.

Those book markers that signed are more also be granted a kite mark to show that they support the initiative and horse racing in the United Kingdom.

Public schools are not exactly the best choice when you want to support and grow your children’s individual interests and talents. Is quite disheartening when you realise that public schools often treat all children the same.

The result of this is that the talents of your children are often not being nurtured and they cannot grow up to their full potential. Later, your children might find themselves in a career they don’t have a passion for or one that doesn’t even fit your children’s interests or character.

Some schools may possibly specialize on things such as music or the arts and other private schools might be suited for those children who are interested in science.

But sending your children to a good private school can not only be beneficial for a later career. Activities such as music and sports are proven to be beneficial for your children’s overall well-being and health. Public schools are often disregarding activities such as sports as “not so important”.

What if your children has a keen interest in music and you want to grow your child’s musical potential?

Before you make a choice on a school for your child you should know whether the school in question can offer your child education suited to his or her interests. Be it sports or music, know the school’s priority of those subjects beforehand. Ask questions such as whether the school offers afternoon courses as well.

Most music businesses, at least here in the United Kingdom are very small companies. Some of the independent folks here are actually one-man shows, so to speak. The lack of financial freedom for a performer or band at the same time trying to be successful in this business is certainly a major challenge for many.

As is the case with almost any type of business, the music business too requires often tedious and time-consuming work that very often has really nothing to do with your musical passion.

I can tell you about the countless hours I spent myself looking up shipping costs or import regulations when I wanted to send out demo CDs or whatever other merchandise to my customers.

It may seem like a trivial thing at first, but don’t assume that sending a tape or CD, let’s say to China, Russia or Japan is easy and straightforward. It is not.

Once I realised that orders from overseas increased (which in itself of course made me very happy!) I faced a problem that I couldn’t handle all the paperwork any longer. So what I did is to get myself a software for the management of shipping documentation. Low and behold, this smart piece of software definitely helps me big time with my business. It don’t need to worry about customs forms any longer and I can see immediately about how much shipping and handling to a particular country would be. I found this way to handle and manage my shipping documentation so helpful that I would definitely recommend it to you in case you face those same challenges as I did!

Founded more than seven years ago, the streaming service recently made headlines with the trial over damages with Universal Music. The court has now spoken the verdict. The former streaming service is now in settlements with several major music labels. As a result of the trial, Groovesh has also agreed to shut down its operations immediately.

The settlement not only required the founders of the streaming service to cease the services immediately but also means that should the founders ever infringe copyright again they would have to pay around $75 million in damages.

If you’re like most of us use you sure have your fair share of attending family gatherings, wedding receptions and other such occasions.

Now, let’s be honest, why those types of events are certainly often a lot of fun with free foods, lots of drinking and all kind of fun stuff, a wedding reception or your yearly family meeting sure may not be exactly “world-class” when it comes to musical entertainment.

If we are looking for most of such events, most of the time there will be a DJ playing or or a local band. That’s all right for most of us since it’s all about having a lot of fun.

But then there can be those types of events where you might really like to make something memorable or those where you want to make an impression on your guests. Obviously, we don’t marry that often so why choose an average band for your big day?

Or think about corporate entertainment if a company has visitors coming over from overseas. This would be the best occasion to think about something really special for their entertainment.

This is where surprise entertainment comes in.

So, what is surprise entertainment?

There are some categories of surprise entertainment. One of them, possibly the most known one is what the singing waiters do. Those are professional singers and dancers who attend your event in disguise, as the name implies most of the time the may just look like waiters. But of course they could also be dressed up as security staff or similar. At a certain time that you talked over with them they will reveal themselves when they start their performance. Since no one suspects anything before they start singing and dancing this will obviously take your guests by surprise – sure a memory that no one will ever forget. Even better, the singing waiters are professionally trained and come from some of the best music schools in the United Kingdom. This means that they cannot only perform the latest top hits that everyone knows and loves but they can also perform anything else from classy jazz to opera. This is especially great for corporate entertainment where something more classy in terms of music would be the best.

The other type of surprise entertainment is what’s known as flash mob. Those are performances that are often in public places, it could be shopping centres, churches or similar. Flash mobs are great for if you want to really surprise someone, say for a really unforgettable wedding proposal.

In this post I added a video of such a wedding proposal inside a church so you have an idea. Isn’t this great? If you are interested in contacting the UK’s singing waiters I recommend that you check their website or give them a call! Make sure you book early because they may be booked out for months in advance!